Coming-Out Party: Frosh explode as RU stuns Florida

Led by freshmen guards Eli Carter (31 points), Myles Mack (14 points) and Jerome Seagears (13 points), the Scarlet Knights stunned No. 10 Florida in double overtime 85-83 before a rocking RAC crowd of 7,855. The Scarlet Knights trailed by seven with two minutes left in regulation before turning this into an instant classic. The points and quotes:

This was a glimpse into the future. Rutgers’ guards dominated this game down the stretch against one of the nation’s best backcourts. We said in the preseason that such a young, talented team would deliver some head-scratchers and some soaring moments. Enter soaring moment No. 1. When they put it all together, Carter, Mack and Seagears are a thrilling trio to watch.

It got overshadowed by all the big-shot fireworks, but the Scarlet Knights’ defense was ferocious. The switching clearly bugged the screen-happy Gators. Florida’s cat-quick guards got little dribble penetration. They struggled to make entry passes, and when they did Rutgers provided textbook help on ace big man Patric Young (11 points, 6 rebounds). The Gators came in ranked sixth in the nation in scoring (86 ppg) and first in 3-pointers. They shot just 9-of-27 from deep and committed 18 turnovers. When Rice looked at the stat sheet afterward he literally whispered, “18 turnovers, wow.”

Dane Miller came to play, and what a difference it made. The mercurial junior was aggressive from the get-go, did not get rattled after being swatted twice early, and finished with this superb line: 16 points on 8-of-13 shooting, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals. His layup late in regulation off a nice baseline pass from Gilvydas Biruta forced overtime.

Two other unheralded contributors: freshmen bigs Derrick Randall and Kadeem Jack. In 17 minutes off the bench, Randall played Patric Young to a standstill. He finished four points and eight boards and received the ultimate compliment as Rice had him on the floor at the end of the game. Randall’s emergence came as foul trouble was creeping up on Rutgers’ frontcourt. If Randall didn’t hold his own, Gilvydas Biruta could easily have fouled out. Jack made his long-awaited college debut and logged three strong defensive minutes against Young at the end of the half.

Mike Rosario did not play well (five points, 2-for-6 in 14 minutes) and was anchored to the bench in crunch time. He heard the boos as expected and got into a double-technical mini-tiff with Dane Miller. But give Rosario credit for going into the Rutgers locker room afterward and congratulating his old team. “Classy move,” Mike Rice said. Fans have the right to dislike Rosario, but his transfer to Florida was a good move for him and for Rutgers. He needed more structure and discipline than Fred Hill’s regime provided, and Rutgers obviously filled the backcourt hole with three players who are just as good.

Mike Rice pushed all the right buttons. He got the players pumped before the game by showing the end of last year’s Villanova upset. He stayed positive on the sideline when Florida got out to an early lead. He shook hands with half the crowd after they rushed the court, lingering for several minutes. Here is all you need to know about Rice: He is just the second coach in program history to record two victories against Top 10 teams. He joins the great Tom Young, who notched four of them.

In my 10 years covering games here, this might well have been the best one. So many twists and turns. The noise at the end of regulation and both overtimes was deafening. I’d like to hear the old-timers compare the decibel level to the 1989 A-10 Tourney final. Hey, nights like this are why we love college basketball.

MIKE RICE:

“This afternoon I showed them the last time a top 10 team came into this building (Villanova), the last two minutes of that game, and our freshmen’s faces lit up. I said, ‘This is what happens when you believe. This is what happens when you don’t think the impossible is impossible. This is what happens when young men are determined to follow the formula and play for one another.’”

“There was such a poise, there was such a confidence in the way they responded at the end. Hopefully this is the future.”

“What I think bothered them, with all the ball screens and motion they run, was our switching. They never got a great advantage.”

“I watched all these guys play so many times. I knew they had it in them.”

On Eli Carter: “I had no doubt who I was giving the ball to and what play I was going with . . . I’ve got somebody that I’m confident is going to make something happen.”

Dane Miller:

On Rosario coming into the locker room: “That’s big, My freshman year a lot of people probably thought he was a little immature, but that shows he is more mature. That was big for him to do that.”

“A lot of people probably saw us as the underdogs, but my team didn’t listen to that. We just came out and played hard . . . Everybody played a role.”

“It gives us a lot of momentum. Now, we have a lot of momentum going into South Florida, who played UConn really tough.”

Myles Mack:

“I haven’t heard it this loud. I could barely hear myself. I couldn’t hear the shot clock or what the coach was saying, so I had to read lips.”

Florida coach Billy Donovan:

“I don’t think that we were very good on offense. Their kids played the right way and I don’t think that our guys played the right way.”

“In the first eight minutes of the game we were up fifteen to seven and we were playing well. The ball was moving all over the place and we were getting wide open shots and the game was being played the right way. From that point on I think that we got stagnant on offense and didn’t maximize each other, we didn’t maximize Patric Young up front and I thought we were standing too much.”

“Our team needs to go through this to reach our full potential as difficult as that may be. It’s bigger for me then just this game, it’s about us getting better.”

On the play of Mike Rosario:

“I feel bad for Mike, anytime that you have to go through something like that. Mike’s a good kid and knew that there would be some people here that really know him and were concerned about his happiness; and that there would some other people with him leaving the program and being a local kid to leave and go play elsewhere would be very upset and disappointed. He had to go through that and that’s part of playing on the road.”

About Jerry Carino

Jerry Carino has covered sports for the Gannett New Jersey newspapers since 1996 and has been on the college basketball beat since 2003. A native of Old Bridge, he also teaches journalism at Kean University.

4 Responses to Coming-Out Party: Frosh explode as RU stuns Florida

I’ve had season tickets for nearly ten years and was a student for four years before that. That is honestly the best game I’ve ever been to at the RAC (I had to work during the Nova game last year). I thought this was an awful match-up for the young Knights, and thought they needed to play the game of their life just to stay in it. To keep taking Florida’s punches and continue to get up off the mat. Just wow.

Hi Dave. Thanks for the perspective. The Nova game was a great finish but the game itself was not nearly as well-played or back-and-forth as this. And this Florida team is much better than that Nova team or the Top 10 Georgetown team that lost in the RAC a few years ago. Florida is a legit national title contender. The takeaway is that Rutgers’ A-plus game can beat anyone. Of course, this sets up for a huge letdown at noon on New Year’s Day so let’s see how the young guys respond.

As someone who has followed Rutgers basketball for 47 years (first as a student manager and as a season ticket holder since the RAC opened) I think I qualify as an “old-timer!” To respond your question as loud as the RAC was last night, I don’t think it was even close to that A-10 championship game – it was so loud that night, I couldn’t hear my son who sitting next to me. Last night, however, was the best college basketball game I’ve ever seen live, television, whatever. Both teams played well – as much as I wanted Rutgers to win, there were moments when I didn’t want it to end. As you say – that’s why we watch and love college basketball.

Great, great post. I’m now going to have to think about my “Top 5″ games over the last 10 years. Too many of them were close losses.

About this Blog

Since its launch in 2006, Hoops Haven has become a staple of the New Jersey basketball community. This is the place to find breaking news, analysis and links about college and high school basketball in the Garden State.

About the Author

Jerry Carino has covered sports for the Gannett New Jersey newspapers since 1996 and has been on the college basketball beat since 2003. A native of Old Bridge, he also teaches journalism at Kean University.Email Jerry.